The trade winds
brought you here
once upon a time
snatched you from
the comfort that
was your home
sent you sailing
across the Atlantic
landing near
the Carolina coast
hand-delivered
in rural Georgia
where you were
freed from your
original sin
december two thousand twenty-two
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved
in college I drank with the best
of them
the irish and the english
and all their neighbors
spaniards and moroccans and
mesopotamians
eurasians and asians and indians
and native americans
the under-aged and over-aged
the jock and nerd and hipster
women and men and transgenders
you name ‘em
we all got along in the bar
after college I was plunged into
the outside world
where none of it seemed to matter
and I found myself witnessing
people ignoring people of all kinds
pointing fingers and impugning
cursing and kicking and hating
for no good reason
forcing me to question my formative years
wondering if they were nothing more
than an exercise of naiveté
october two thousand fifteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved
why have all the scholars
and scribes and high priests
why have they sealed up the
words of the prophecy
exposing their selfishness
and secrecy for all to see
I have scaled the city walls
and found a new world
where the seeds of truth
sprout from my cupped hands
and water flows like a fountain
deep within the desert
june two thousand thirteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved
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